..is the odyssey of Narciso Zamora's winding and treacherous path toward finding his calling in missions. Trekking with the Gospel over the mountains and through the jungles of Ecuador, Peru and Chile, often walking for days to reach an isolated settlement of a few families, Zamora’s is a story of Christian triumph in a literal journey of a thousand miles.

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Before we pour the cement to make the ceiling/floor of the second story, we level it and support it with these wooden poles.

We’ve had four days of calm after almost a month of non-stop rain. It was problematic trying to work on the church construction every day it rained. Water was coming from everywhere and flooded the space where Pastor Cesar and his wife and kids live. They were worried because the water had filled the latrine they were using and water was starting to come out of it! Can you imagine have to wade around in that water with feces and all? Terrible. But now the water level is down again and we are trying to construct the real bathroom and shut off that latrine because we need that area anyway for the next phase of construction.

We’ve been at it since Monday a week ago and now part of the walls and columns are ready. After that, we’ll have to put up wood to prop up the roof/floor of second story for pouring the cement on the front part of the building. I’ve bought all the rebar for the roof and second story of the church, and I think the weather is going to be better. So we’re going to keep going.

Here’s a photo of me on a recent trip taking literature and Bible studies to the new churches we have in the mountains. Some days I was able to conduct Bible studies in two locations as some of the towns have their meetings during the day, while the larger towns tend to have their meetings in the evening.

We have decided to start a church in the mountains of a region called Chachapoyas in the coming year, and we continue in prayer about it, because we have no means of support to plant churches. As with the birth of any baby, there are expenses. It doesn’t matter what brand of diapers we use on this “newborn,” we will just trust that God will provide what this new work will need to survive and grow.

This reminds me of a story that a woman from the Chachapoyas region told me. She had a brother in Lima whose wife had left him with a baby. Her brother was not able to take care of the child because of his work. So she asked him to let her raise the child in the country. She said, “Even if he has to eat chicken droppings, it’s better than being raised alone in the city.” Quite literally, in these mountain areas, many times the children are set on the grass while the mothers are working. The chickens roam the same grass. Therefore it is not uncommon for the babies to happen upon chicken droppings, and as all children do, they may pick things up, play with them and then either put them in their mouths or put their hands in the their mouths after having played with these things. The woman said to me, “You may think that sounds awful; but one thing is for sure, they grow up.”

The same is true with our spiritual children some times. We may not think this is any kind of way to raise “children,” but the important thing is that they grow.

We travelled to a small town called Jaen and conducted a Bible training course to prepare leaders for the churches that God is calling together in that area. We had 25 taking the course. Now we’re back in Cajamarca where each Monday I wake in the middle of the night to make it up to the Porcon community and preach a 6 a.m. service that these dedicated Christians attend before starting their work week. Then on Tuesday of this week we began a vacation Bible school. A public school teacher from Lima came with some other sisters to help us in this work.
Next up is another Bible training course with the church leaders in the Cajamarca region. We need to prepare workers to plant new works and make disciples. We appreciate your prayers and support.

Below: The group of participants in the Bible training course at Jaen.

A tin roof has served for the last few years, but now we’re ready to put on the permanent roof, also the floor to the second story… a leap of faith for another day.

We have decided to start the roof/second floor of the church in Cajamarca. Each church in this region and some from Lima are participating by each family donating a bag of cement, others some rebar and still others a gift of 20 bricks.

We need 200 bags of cement, 50 rebar, 1800 bricks and 60 cubic meters of sand/mortar mix. A bag of cement costs US$9.00, rebar is $11 each, 20 bricks cost $9.00 and a cubic meter of mortar mix is $22.00. If anyone would like to help with any of these supplies, you are certainly welcome!

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Praise

"Zamora confirms that true faith can lead to heroic adventure, and an unheralded mission can be a life-enhancing force"

- Peter SkinnerForeword Magazine, March/April 2008

"Zamora is upfront about his life, so the book is full of his earlier mistakes and some of their immediate and long-term consequences.
... There is a real humanness about the way Zamora has written the book, a personal recounting of his struggles within the various churches and his family."